ISLAMABAD: Collaborative efforts to strengthen democratic values were urged by the parliamentarians, academicians, human right activists and youth representatives during a dialogue titled ‘Democracy and Conflict Prevention’ organised by Pakistan Centre for Civic Education at Islamabad Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU).
The event was organised in connection with ‘International Democracy Day 2017’. The speakers of the dialogue included Senate Standing Committee on Industries and Production Chairman Senator Hidayat Ullah Khan, Member National Assembly (MNA) Tahir Iqbal, National Commission for Human Rights Members Shafique Chaudhry and Dr Yahya Ahmed, Islamabad Inter-University Consortium for Promotion of Social Sciences National Coordinator Muhammad Murtaza Noor, analyst and Human Rights activist Liaquat Shahwani and QAU Department of Anthropology Faculty Member Muhammad Waqas Saleem.
While sharing research findings of the study conducted by Centre for Civic Education, Murtaza Noor informed that out of total 25,599 days in Pakistan, democracy functioned for 9,892 days (39 per cent). He added that based on indicators of electoral process and pluralism, political performance, the functioning of government, civil liberties and political culture, Pakistan stood at 111th position out of 167 countries in Democracy Index for the year 2016.
Muhammad Waqas Saleem highlighted the vital role of Parliament in order to bridge the gap between state and society. He also urged dialogue and frequent interaction between academia and parliamentarians to strengthen democracy in Pakistan.
Liaquat Shahwani said that the Constitution clearly stipulates that adequate provisions shall be made for ensuring the supremacy of Constitution, rule of law, decentralization, independence of judiciary and equality of citizenship.
Shafique Chaudhry urged over the supremacy of Constitution, the inclusion of civic education in curriculum and adoption of democratic attitude at an individual level. He was of the view that through the restoration of student unions, extremism could be overcome at the educational institutions.
MNA Tahir Iqbal said that Pakistan was created as a separate federal country in 1947 on the basis of democratic struggle and power of the vote. The founder of the nation, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah in his various speeches strongly advocated democracy and democratic values including equality of all citizens and active participation of women in every walk of life.
Senator Hidayat Ullah said that democracy was the best model to resolve disputes, and emphasized over promotion of democratic values of liberality, equality, human rights and the rule of law. He further stated that resilient societies resolve disputes through mediation, respecting others’ views, promoting a culture of dialogue and a reasonable degree of legitimacy of their institutions.